Social worker PA Zeenath sees her work as a calling, something she has to do. It is a calling that she has answered, with empathy and compassion, perhaps born out of her unfulfilled dream of becoming a nurse. For the past 20-odd years she has been doing her bit as a caregiver for HIV patients, those sufferingย from cancer and anybody else who might need her service.ย
Zeenath is a part of the Snehatheeram Charitable Trust, Aluva, a support and care centre for those living with HIV AIDS; it also offers institutionalised home-based care for the terminally ill. However, rather than confining herself to service via Snehatheeram, she does her bit independently as well. She is sought after for her home visits to collect hair from donors for wigs for cancer survivors.ย
It all started as part of her volunteering with cancer patients at the Ernakulam General Hospital (GH) around eight years ago. โGetting the disease is traumatic enough, but losing hair is the worst. It hits women really hard, some women would talk about how their grandchildren would be terrified of them. They would constantly look at the mirror to see how they looked. I was not able to get that out of my mind.โย
That is when she heard of a hair donation drive (Keshadanam) by the Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, and the Hair Bank. She also learnt that the Hair Bank provided free wigs for the underprivileged. A wig, she realised, would go a long way in building confidence and making cancer patients and survivors feel good about themselves.ย ย ย
Learning how to make wigs
Zeenath, 41, got in touch with the authorities to learn more about how to get the wigs. That is when she learnt about keshadanam (hair donation) and made it one of her missions. Not only does she organise hair donation camps but also creates awareness about it during house visits, schools, colleges and even at functions in religious places. โAt a church function at Vyttila, 100-odd people donated their hair. My hand hurt so much that day!โ says a cheerful Zeenath.ย
She gets calls every couple of days from people who want to donate hair. Much as she would like to respond immediately, โmy schedule makes it difficult. Also I take the hair once every three months, when they call for donations at the Hair Bank. So it makes sense to go closer to that date.โ She offers her services free of charge.
Zeenath gets calls every couple of days by people keen on donating their hair
| Photo Credit:
RK Nithin
Of the 4,500-odd people she has collected these โdonationsโ from, she says, most are men. One person she harvested hair from had grown it for five years in order to donate it.ย
Zeenath informs me that there are more people who donate their hair than we would know. โRecently a few women cops got in touch with me to harvest their hair, then there are NRIs who donate hair while on vacation. Then there are children of cancer survivors. People feel very proud after they donate hair, you should see their happiness!โ She gets hair donors at Snehatheeram, some come with cut hair to donate, while for others she harvests.ย โI get calls from across Kerala, with queries about hair donation.โ
Hair donation specifications
The hair, she says, has to be at least 30 centimetres or 12 inches long, shampooed and dry; hair should not be coloured either. After she harvests the hair, she gives the donors a proper haircut so that their hair does not look messy. โA beauticianโs course I took comes in handy. I give them (donors) a cut that evens out the hair and does not look like a haphazard job. Some people hand over hair they have cut themselves โ either wet or unwashed. That is when it gets messy. I, then, have to wash and dry the hair, which sometimes smells.โ
Hanging hair to dry, on a clothesline at home, startles her sons. โThey constantly tell me that all that hair hanging looks ghoulish!โ Zeenath says laughing. She lives in Aluva with her two sons and their families.ย
Although she has never weighed the quantity of hair she has taken to the Hair Bank, she says, โEvery three months I have hair harvested from at least 110-120-odd people.โ She gets the wigs free from Amala Hospital.ย Zeenath is trying to learn wig-making so that it would make it easier to get wigs for cancer survivors without much of a wait.ย
โBeing shorn of hair can be especially tough for some people. The wait gets to some of them, so I think if I learn to make them then they will not have to wait too long.โ The wigs she gets are for women for โmen can manage with a cap or a scarf unlike women.โ
For the sake of confidence
Are there specifications on the kind of wig? โThe cancer survivors specify the kind of wig they want. Some women want their โhairโ to be like you see in the movies or on television โ long, straight silky kind of hair. Some of them joke that even though their natural hair may not have been all that, they can at least hope for a wig that is pretty,โ says Zeenath, laughing.
Zeenath does more: she drives an ambulance, arranges blood donations, sponsorships to conduct marriages of women from underprivileged backgrounds, conducts soap and chocolate making classes apart from volunteering. When asked what drives her, she says, โI have been volunteering since I was 18. My childhood was tough, I have faced several hardships and challenges. For that reason, I think, I empathise more with people who are suffering and I want to do my bit trying to ease that.โ
Those interested in donating hair can contact Zeenath at 9497226433
Published – August 22, 2025 10:06 pm IST